


and you know it's obvious (but we can't choose how we're made)

by transzoemurphy



Category: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: (or is he... ;) ), Angst, Dysphoria, Gender Dysphoria, Hurt/Comfort, I MISSED THEM SO MUCH AAA, I MISSED THESE BOYS, M/M, Slight Panic Attack, Trans Male Character, Trans Scorpius Malfoy, a bit of makin out but yk, but it's not explicit, cis albus potter, fluff/angst, healer albus, i love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!, injuries, kinda like hes studying tje material, like pre panic attack? idk, local stupid boy w bad asthma jumped on a trampoline for an hour while binding, lots of fluff, oof i love them, scorpius is dumb but i love him, they talk n think abt sex, trans scorpius, unsafe binding, what an idiot, what happens next wont shock you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 14:21:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15775857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transzoemurphy/pseuds/transzoemurphy
Summary: Scorpius hurt his ribs binding. Albus just wants him to feel better.





	and you know it's obvious (but we can't choose how we're made)

**Author's Note:**

> (title from transgender dysphoria blues by against me!)  
> shhdhbdbdbs i havent written these boys in so long i Miss Them,,,,, dhdhdgdgshshdh

"You can't keep doing that," Albus chided, but his heart wasn't really in it. Scorpius wouldn't listen anyway. He never did. 

"Doing what?" Scorpius asked.  
"You know." Albus huffed and collapsed on the couch, slinging his bag down on the ground. "The bandages. You gotta stop with that, man."  
"No."  
Albus sighed, kicking his legs onto his boyfriend's lap. "I'm trying to keep my selfish punk teen façade on, but you're making it really hard."  
"I'm not," said Scorpius, and he was lying, but Albus indulged him.  
"Not what?"  
"Binding like that. Anymore."  
"You aren't?" Albus raised a single eyebrow. He could do it, but Scorpius couldn't, and it drove the latter of the two crazy.  
"No. I'm using the two sports bras method now, I swear."  
"That and the bandages over it," Albus responded, not missing a beat.  
Scorpius remained silent.  
"Come with me." Albus stood up and held out a hand, which Scorpius took.  
Albus led him up the stairs to the fifth years' dorms, slamming the door shut and locking it. He sat down on his bed and after a pause Scorpius joined him.  
"I'm dead serious," he continued. "You're gonna be dead Scorpius if you keep this up. It's not safe and I hate watching you destroy yourself like this."  
Scorpius stayed quiet for a moment before saying, so quietly Albus could barely hear it, "Then close your eyes."  
He did, although Scorpius obviously didn't mean that literally. "Did you know I can hear your breathing from over here?"  
"It just hurts," Scorpius mumbled, and Albus' eyes snapped open.  
"What hurts?" He asked, keeping his voice quiet despite the panic filling his mind.  
"My ribs. My head. All of... everything. It all hurts."  
Albus breathed out softly, biting down on his lip hard enough to bruise. (He did, generally, end up with bruised lips after 'hanging out' alone with Scorpius for a while, yes, but usually for different reasons).  
"If you take off the bandages - just the bandages, that's all I'm asking this time - I can check your ribs? Just your ribs, I won't look at anything else, I swear. I just want to check."  
"I'm only letting you because you're studying seventh year Healer material currently," Scorpius responded. He sat up cross-legged and sighed. "You might as well do it yourself."  
"If you insist." Albus winked, and Scorpius snorted before tugging his shirt off.  
"This already looks bad," Albus said. He pushed himself back behind Scorpius and pulled at the end of the bandage, unwinding it as carefully as he could and placing a gentle kiss to his boyfriend's neck as he did so.  
"Not the time," Scorpius chided, but he shivered nonetheless.  
"It's always the time," Albus responded, pulling the last of the bandage off. "Can you lie down?" He was fairly certain there was bruising, but it could have been the greenish light of the lake, and he wasn't about to take it for granted.  
Albus lifted Scorpius' arm and moved it over his chest so he could see the other boy's ribs. "I want to check this side first," he mumbled as he did so. "It's where the heart is, so it's pretty important. And the left lung is smaller, so," he was rambling. He pressed his lips together and pushed back the layers of fabric, running his fingers over the skin. In the white light of his bedside lamp it looked better, but there was still a definite light green-blue-purple-grey tint to the skin. He breathed out lightly.  
"Does it hurt if I-"  
"Don't," Scorpius snapped, before burying his face in his pillow. "I'm sorry, it just hurts and there's five planets in retrograde currently, so."  
"It's okay, babe," Albus mumbled, before blushing darkly. Babe? Since when did he call Scorpius 'babe?'  
Scorpius grumbled something and Albus didn't bother trying to decipher the jumbled words, as it was most certainly either swears or something incredibly explicit that he'd rather die than repeat.  
"I'm just gonna press down," he said.  
"Okay," Scorpius responded.  
Albus laid three fingers of his left hand on the top of the other boy's ribcage, pressing down lightly.  
Scorpius whimpered, and Albus began spilling apologies.  
"Stop that, it's okay," Scorpius said.  
"How does it feel? How much does it hurt?" Albus asked, slipping back into Healer mode.  
"Bad," said Scorpius. "Remember that time we went to a Muggle ice skating rink and you were distracted because I was, in your words, 'so pretty, Scor,' and-"  
"Shut up," Albus grumbled, but he was smiling good-naturedly.  
"-you were watching me and there was a curve you didn't see somehow and you slipped and hit your cheekbone on the rail?"  
"...I remember that, yes."  
"That's how it feels when you press on it."  
"Mkay. Other side?"  
"Al."  
"Scor."  
"Is it bad?"  
Albus pressed his lips together. "Turn over."  
"Is it bad, Albus?"  
"...It could be better. I need to see the other side to know how bad it is."  
"It hurts to lie here."  
"That's not good."  
"Nope, it's not," Scorpius agreed. But he rolled over and tangled his fingers in the pillowcase. He looked absolutely gorgeous, lying in Albus' bedsheets, grey eyes tinted green by the light, and Albus barely managed to drag his eyes away.  
He pushed up Scorpius' sports bras again to check the extent of the damage and found himself gritting his teeth just imagining his pain. Purple and blue and yellow and green decorated Scorpius' side, the colours so much more vibrant than they should be, painting his ribs. Albus dragged his fingers across the skin in a particularly bruised area, trying to tell how bad it was.  
"I'm gonna press on this side too, okay?"  
"I thought you already did," Scorpius admitted.  
Albus let out a shaky breath. "You gotta tell me how much it hurts."  
"Okay."  
Albus pressed down lightly and Scorpius let out a choked half-sob. "That hurts. A lot. It hurts."  
"I'm sorry, Scor, oh my god..."  
"It's not your fault, it just really hurts, I'm sorry," he gasped out.  
"Breathe," Albus whispered, recognising his boyfriend's impending panic attack.  
"I can't," Scorpius huffed, "that's why - that's why I'm panicking."  
"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Albus whispered, lying down beside his boyfriend and resting his chin on Scorpius' head.  
"It hurts a lot," he mumbled. "Is it bad? It feels bad."  
"It's pretty bad," Albus admitted.  
"I'm not going to the nurse," Scorpius announced shakily.  
"But you are taking off those sports bras because you're seriously injured and I won't let you hurt yourself more."  
"No."  
"I wasn't suggesting that," Albus said firmly. "I'm telling you. I know that not binding makes you feel awful, but if you keep on this way, you won't be able to bind anymore because you'll have broken ribs."  
He could see Scorpius' resolve cracking.  
"Fine, but when I start crying it's your fault."  
Albus shrugged. "Better that than you crying because you broke a rib."  
"Fine. But I'm not happy about it," Scorpius pouted. "Now go away while I change into something appropriately dark and depressing."  
Albus wanted to make a joke about how he'd rather stay, but decided not to risk it, instead just slipping out the door and sitting down in the hall.  
A few minutes later Scorpius shoved the door open, arms crossed, looking incredibly unhappy with the situation. "I deserve ice cream," he huffed.  
"You deserve every star in the sky. And ice cream," Albus responded. His boyfriend was wearing black sweatpants and an oversized black hoodie that looked awfully familiar. "Scor, is that my hoodie?"  
"Not anymore."  
Albus snorted. The hoodie, which was too big for Scorpius, always engulfed Albus. He had to roll his sleeves up four times to get his hands visible, and if he pulled on it, the bottom hem came down to his knees. Despite his height, Scorpius still nearly swam in it.  
"Stop being gay in the hallway," called Yann from the next room. "You're nauseatingly cute and all, but some of us are single and jealous."  
"We'll be gay in our room, then," Albus said, grabbing his boyfriend's hand.  
"Good night, boys," Yann called.  
"Night," Scorpius responded before being dragged back into their dorm by Albus, who promptly collapsed onto his bed.  
Scorpius rolled on next to him, pressing kisses to his face.  
"Does it still hurt?" Albus asked.  
"Yeah. But it's a bit better. It was getting worse every time I took a breath; now it's just stable."  
"Don't stress out your lungs, I want you to be able to breathe," Albus worried.  
"I love you, now shut up," Scorpius said, kissing Albus' cheeks and jawline before moving down to kiss his neck.  
"Don't get hurt-"  
"Will you please shut up," Scorpius huffed, bracing his left arm on Albus' chest and continuing to kiss down his neck, biting slightly and smirking when Albus whimpered beneath him.  
"I love you so much," Scorpius whispered, pulling Albus' shirt back to suck a mark into the soft skin at the base of his neck. Albus moaned slightly and mumbled, "the others will be back soon."  
"Yeah, but you're hot and I'm drowning my sorrows in you."  
"That's nice and metaphorical and all but first of all, this is a shared room, and second of all, you're hurt, and third of all, that's not a healthy coping mechanism. And fourth of all, you need to sleep."  
Scorpius huffed and removed his arm from Albus' chest, lying on top of him instead, burying his face in the other boy's neck.  
"You okay?" Albus asked.  
"No, but whatever. It's okay."  
"No, talk to me. What do you need?"  
Scorpius shrugged. Albus ran his fingers through the other's hair.  
"I'm just sad," he said finally. "There's a lot of nothing knotted up inside me and it's going to explode and that's the best I can explain it."  
"I'm sorry." Albus traced patterns on Scorpius' palm with his thumb. "Can you tell me about things you like? That you care about?"  
"You know all of that already."  
"Just do it," Albus sighed. "Things that make you happy?"  
"You. Sunflowers. Guitar. Reading. When my handwriting looks really nice. The look on people's faces when they get compliments. Bath bombs. Cats. Dogs. Animals in general. Your hands. Your eyes. Your smile. Your lips. Your di-"  
"Time to stop," Albus interrupted, slapping a hand over his boyfriend's mouth, who cackled. "D'you wanna go throw bath bombs in the Prefect's bath?"  
"Are you trying to seduce me?"  
"I already have," Albus winked.  
(The truth of the matter was that, while they'd had sex several times, neither had seen the other fully unclothed. And with Scorpius in this vulnerable of a state, Albus didn't expect him to agree - he probably wasn't ready, and Albus wasn't going to push him into anything he didn't want. Still, he needed a moment to catch his breath, as this trail of thought led to his memory of the last time the two had gone swimming: Scorpius' shirt had ridden up and Albus had found himself so distracted by the exposed skin that he tripped and faceplanted in the sand. Things like this happened frequently, but Scorpius didn't mind. Albus figured it was a self esteem boost to have a boyfriend who was always driven to distraction by you).  
"Well, yeah," said Scorpius, and it took Albus a moment to remember what he was talking about.  
"Of course I seduced you. I'm irresistible."  
"Yeah, so forgive me if I still jump on you even if I have hurt ribs."  
"Shut up, I know you will."  
"I'm considering it right now," Scorpius responded. "And I would if I wasn't so tired. C'mon. It's cuddle time."  
"Sounds great," Albus grinned, wrapping his arm around his boyfriend again. Scorpius curled into him, sliding down so Albus could feel tall and rest his head on top of Scorpius', even though he was 5'2" and Scorpius was 5'8".  
Scorpius captured Albus' hand in his own and Albus smiled.  
"Good night," he murmured into Scorpius' hair.  
"G'night," Scorpius whispered, his smile audible in his voice. "I love you."  
"I love you too," Albus responded. He let his eyes flutter closed and soon enough his boyfriend's soft breathing lull him to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> it's been so long since ive written these boys,,, i missed them so much,,,, <3 <3 i live off kudos fyi!!! also to my commenter on a lot of my scorbus fics (u know who u are) thank u?? you have resparked my love for these boys,,,


End file.
